on a boulder, facing the open country.
The moon was directly behind them, high up. It was almost as light as an
Earth day.

"Tonight is like life," said Sullenbode.

"How so?"

"So lovely above and around us, so foul underfoot."

Maskull sighed. "Poor girl, you are unhappy."

"And you--are you happy?"

He thought a while, and then replied--"No. No, I'm not happy. Love is
not happiness."

"What is it, Maskull?"

"Restlessness--unshed tears--thoughts too grand for our soul to
think..."

"Yes," said Sullenbode.

After a time she asked, "Why were we created, just to live for a few
years and then disappear?"

"We are told that we shall live again."

"Yes, Maskull?"

"Perhaps in Muspel," he added thoughtfully.

"What kind of life will that be?"

"Surely we shall meet again. Love is too wonderful and mysterious a
thing to remain uncompleted."

She gave a slight shiver, and turned away from him. "This dream is
untrue. Love is completed here."

"How can that be, when sooner or later it is brutally interrupted by
Fate?"

"It is completed by anguish.... Oh, why must it always be enjoyment
for us? Can't we suffer--can't we go on suffering, forever and ever?
Maskull, until love crushes our spirit, finally and without remedy, we
don't begin to feel ourselves."

Maskull gazed at her with a troubled expression. "Can the memory of love
be worth more than its presence and reality?"

"You don't understand. Those pangs are more precious than all the rest
beside." She caught at him. "Oh, if you could only see inside my mind,
Maskull! You would see strange things.... I can't explain. It is all
confused, even to myself.... This love is quite different from what I
thought."

He sighed again. "Love is a strong drink. Perhaps it is too strong for
human beings. And I think that it overtures our reason in different
ways."

They remained sitting side by side, staring straight before them with
unseeing eyes.

"It doesn't matter," said Sullenbode at last, with a smile, getting up.
"Soon it will be ended, one way or another. Come, let us be off!"

Maskull too got up.

"Where's Corpang?" he asked listlessly.

They both looked across the ridge in the direction of Adage. At the
point where they stood it was nearly a mile wide. It sloped perceptibly
toward the southern edge, giving all the earth the appearance of a heavy
list. Toward the west the ground continued level for a thousand yards,
but then a high, sloping,